It is nice to see a play by an outstanding playwright that is seldom produced. Clifford Odets’ The Big Knife is a 1949 play and a 1955 film that was Odets’ attack on the shenanigans that pervaded Hollywood in the days of the studio produced films centered on contract players.
Read MoreGood People is a funny, honest and vividly naturalistic slice-of-life comic drama that intelligently defines the nature of just what a ‘good person’ actually is. Smartly, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire presents the complex, contradictorily nature of human behavior that has the key characters struggling with the affects of all their life decisions.
Read MoreWoody Sex is a fast-paced, richly sung and expertly played glimpse into the life of Woody Guthrie. For us who know about Woody and for those unfamiliar (shame on you) with Woody Guthrie, this show has new insights into his life. We learn that his mother was a singer who influenced Woody as an infant. We also learn the hard times his family suffered from mother’s pyromania. Woody started street singing in Oklahoma at age seven. His natural discontent led him to establish a wondering spirit in search of harmony. it was a lifelong pursuit.
Read MoreCharlie’s description of how he would sink to the bottom of a swimming pool or lake waters slowly and sit on the bottom until his air ran out observing things above as they floated by was insightful. Nancy’s early dreams involved being a woman and doing all the ‘woman’ things. These early scenes had touches of satire, melancholy and light comedy.
Read MoreAdapted by Lifeline Theater ensemble Member Robert Kauzlaric, this newest incarnation captures all the twists and turns of the original via expected action enhanced by delicious monologues that echo Collins epistolary style. This version of The Woman in White provides a worthy addition to Lifeline’s dramatic specialization of original literary adaptations.
Read MoreBut what makes this 42nd Street sizzle is the terrific performance by Nicole Miller, as the chorus girl, Peggy Sawyer, who, in her first show on Broadway, saves the the show by stepping in, at the last minute, to cover the star. Miller’s dancing is expert, her singing and acting is renders Sawyer as the true ingenue who becomes a star right before our eyes.
Read MoreThe classic singspiel of strange magic and quests for love gets its first new Chicago production in 17 years. Complete with a new English translation, there are only three performances left!
Read MoreIn the hands of a master storyteller like August Wilson, Jitney flows as high drama. Themes such as younger disrespecting older generations, the struggle of the working class to make a living, and changing social order and the uprooting of older neighborhoods are aptly dealt with in Jitney.
Read MoreWe see the groups routine, learn abut each one’s foibles, and experience the fluid relationships. From the stoic motherly Jenny (Rebecca Spence) to the chatty, aggressive Gwyneth (Mary Cross) to tea-maker Doris (Meg Warner to the child-like Dawn (Ashley Neal) to the naive teen newbie Meg (Amanda Powell) to the ‘by-the-rules Cynthia (Jodi Kingsley) and the mysterious, standoffish Chelsea(Katrina Kuntz) – we get to know and like each women. Here pace, expert acting and atmosphere make for a naturalistic atmosphere.
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